Tuesday Afternoon in Belton
School is out for the afternoon and the streets are starting to get busy with traffic on a sunny spring Tuesday afternoon in Belton, South Carolina. Railroad traffic is also picking up - after completing the handoff of interchange traffic at the yard south of town, the Greenville and Western Railway departed west on their former Piedmont and Northern (via SCL/Chesse/CSX) mainline a bit east of here about a half hour ago (and more on that another day...). Now it's the Pickens Railway's turn, as the Belton Job has completed the bulk of the day's work and is beginning the run back to their home base. Two trains in a half hour is about as busy as it gets here in Belton!
PICK 9507 and 9500 have 13 cars in tow as they make a ruckus crossing Anderson Street. The bright (if dirty) U18B duo are burbling past the former Southern Railway depot, built in 1910 and now in use by a local museum association. Downtown Belton with it's rather unique standpipe water reservioir form the backdrop. The Belton Standpipe is apparently an early example of a reinforced concrete water tower and dates to 1909.
(A tip of the hat to JJL and Michael Derrick for some great intel before my trip that helped immensely with understanding the PICK and GRLW ops in this area - thanks guys!)
Tuesday Afternoon in Belton
School is out for the afternoon and the streets are starting to get busy with traffic on a sunny spring Tuesday afternoon in Belton, South Carolina. Railroad traffic is also picking up - after completing the handoff of interchange traffic at the yard south of town, the Greenville and Western Railway departed west on their former Piedmont and Northern (via SCL/Chesse/CSX) mainline a bit east of here about a half hour ago (and more on that another day...). Now it's the Pickens Railway's turn, as the Belton Job has completed the bulk of the day's work and is beginning the run back to their home base. Two trains in a half hour is about as busy as it gets here in Belton!
PICK 9507 and 9500 have 13 cars in tow as they make a ruckus crossing Anderson Street. The bright (if dirty) U18B duo are burbling past the former Southern Railway depot, built in 1910 and now in use by a local museum association. Downtown Belton with it's rather unique standpipe water reservioir form the backdrop. The Belton Standpipe is apparently an early example of a reinforced concrete water tower and dates to 1909.
(A tip of the hat to JJL and Michael Derrick for some great intel before my trip that helped immensely with understanding the PICK and GRLW ops in this area - thanks guys!)